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Pierre Gasly has escaped with a warning after Stewards deemed him to have driven “unnecessarily slowly” on the sighting lap to the Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sprint grid.
Stewards issued a summons for the Frenchman following the 24-lap encounter to discuss the matter.
Gasly has accrued 10 of the allowed 12 penalty points in the last 12 months and is precariously close to a one-race ban.
Officials have taken a consistently hard-line approach to driving infringements in recent times, with incidents such as crossing the pit entry line, impeding, and leaving the track and gaining an advantage all being penalised with a single penalty point.
In this instance, Stewards opted to issue a warning to Gasly.
“The Stewards took into account that there were people on the grid just after [Safety Car] Line 1, however, the driver is responsible for driving the required speed during the entire lap,” the Stewards reasoned.
“The Race Director’s Note to Teams (document 20) specified a maximum time of 1:12.0 between the Safety Car lines and car 10 recorded a time of 1:14.185.”
Gasly’s predicament has met with sympathy among his peers, with discussions ongoing with the FIA to review the current penalty points system.
“Definitely conversations have been had,” said George Russell when asked about the issue by Speedcafe.com.
Russell is a member of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, a body designed to represent the drivers’ interests, primarily in matters of safety.
“I think the FIA will definitely review the point system this year,” he continued.
“I think if any driver was to receive a race ban, it needs to be for something pretty, pretty damn serious.
“And I definitely don’t put Pierre in the category of a dangerous or reckless driver.
“A number of his penalty points have been through non-dangerous driving, as such.
“I don’t know what he did to drive unnecessarily slow, but it would be a shame to see him take a race ban.
“Even if he were to get those 12 points, I think we need to reconsider it.”
Gasly finished the Sprint in 10th place, from where he will line up for Sunday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
